Twin earthquakes in Peru's Junin region kill at least five
Two earthquakes have struck Peru's Junin region east of the capital Lima, leaving at least five people dead and 21 injured, according to authorities. The tremors, measured at magnitudes 5.1 and 3.7 by Peru's National Seismological Center, hit the mountainous area on Saturday night. Rescue workers are still searching for anyone who may be trapped under rubble.
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Officials said the first quake was recorded at a depth of 24 km, while the second struck at 18 km. Peru's National Civil Defense Institute said early reports indicated at least 48 homes were destroyed and 18 more damaged. Around 300 people have been displaced and are being sheltered in tents, as local teams assess the scale of the damage.
The impact has been felt most sharply in towns where many homes are built from adobe mud bricks, which are vulnerable to collapse during seismic activity. In Chupaca, about 300 kilometres east of Lima, residents described houses giving way after the tremors. One resident in Chongos Bajo said the earthquake destroyed their home and that many adobe houses in the area had collapsed.
The disaster comes in a country that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most active seismic zones. That geological setting means Peru regularly faces earthquake risk, and even moderate tremors can cause serious damage in rural and mountainous communities. The latest deaths and displacement underline the vulnerability of older housing and the challenge of emergency response in remote areas.
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President-elect Keiko Fujimori said she deeply regretted the consequences of the earthquake and expressed condolences to the families of those who died. Her comments came as rescue efforts continued and authorities worked to confirm the full extent of the losses. The reported death toll has varied slightly between local and national accounts, with some reports citing five deaths and others six.
What remains unclear is whether more people are still trapped beneath collapsed structures and how many homes may ultimately be found unsafe. Authorities have not yet given a final damage assessment, and rescue and relief work is continuing. The next updates are likely to focus on the search operation, the confirmed casualty count and the condition of displaced residents.
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